Contract staff

It is possible to work for the EU on a fixed-term contract basis.

Contract agents (or staff) carry out a number of manual or administrative tasks and may provide additional capacity in specialised fields where an insufficient number of officials is available.

They are generally recruited for fixed-term contracts (maximum 6 years in any EU Institution), but in some cases they can be offered contracts for an indefinite duration (in offices, agencies, delegations or representations).

Contract staff is recruited in two different ways: via the CAST Permanent procedure or via an ad hoc selection process.

In the first type of selection, the word CAST stands for Contract Agents Selection Tool while Permanent means that it is open-ended, with no application deadline.

CAST Permanent positions are available for a wide range of job profiles. In this selection, candidates apply for a profile and not for a specific job position.

EU institutions, bodies and agencies can also recruit contract staff to fill specific positions via ad hoc contract staff vacancies. In this case, for each vacancy an application deadline is set.

As contract staffing needs arise, ad hoc vacancies may be published for a wide range of profiles such as webmasters, policy officers, linguists, project coordinators, security officers, scientific engineering managers, drivers, communication specialists, researchers, to name but a few.

Learn more about application procedures for both CAST Permanent and ad hoc contact staff vacancies on our Selection process page.

In both CAST Permanent and ad hoc cases, candidates who are successful in obtaining a contract will be employed for a fixed amount of time. In some EU bodies and agencies, contracts could be extended for an indefinite duration.

All contract staff positions are divided into four function groups (career levels):

Function group (FG)	Grade	Tasks
FG IV	13 to 18	Administrative, advisory, linguistic and equivalent technical tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff.
FG III	8 to 12	Executive tasks, drafting, accountancy and other equivalent technical tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff.
FG II	4 to 7	Clerical and secretarial tasks, office management and other equivalent tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff.
FG I	1 to 3	Manual and administrative support service tasks, performed under the supervision of officials or temporary staff.

Learn more details on this salary table (applicable from 1 January 2024).

Find available job opportunities for contract staff.